HAPPY 84TH ANNIVERSARY, POPEYE THE SAILOR!

January 17 marked the 84th anniversary of the greatest comic strip character ever created (IMHO).



He was created in a downtown Santa Monica studio (near 4th and Santa Monica Blvd.) by Elzie Crisler Segar, a Midwest cartoonist who had relocated to Los Angeles. Popeye's first appearance, in a Jan. 17, 1929 episode of Segar's "Thimble Theater," was crude but memorable.



After a few weeks of appearances, Popeye outshone the stars of "Thimble Theater" and quickly became the star of the strip.

Popeye the Sailor, Max Fleischer of Fleischer Studios.

 Beginning with a cameo in a Betty Boop cartoon, Max and Dave Fleischer's cartoon shorts furthered his popularity and gave him the whole spinach-as-strength-booster device...as well as his adversary, Bluto.



An American icon was born.

HAPPY 84th BIRTHDAY, POPEYE THE SAILOR!